Seattle Tonics showcases its’ product inside a modern themed atmosphere with homely accents. We especially dig the glass display cases in the center of the store and the menu projected on the back wall.

Stop by and say high to this welcomed and friendly, Northern Seattle cannabis establishment.

Seattle now has eight recreational marijuana stores with the brand new addition of Dockside Cannabis. This legal retail store, owned by the same group who started Fremont’s Dockside Co-op in 2011, officially opened their doors on Saturday, December 6.

Dockside Co-Op is a favorite of the Seattle community, winning the Seattle Weekly’s reader voted Best of Seattle the past three years. The owners plan to transcend the foundation of that success to the new Dockside Cannabis.

According to Maria Moses, Director of Dockside Cannabis. “We have an opportunity to put a brand new face on what people associate with marijuana and I hope that we can bring in those who haven’t found a cannabis store they feel comfortable in just yet. ‘Living Dockside’ is all about getting out into the natural playgrounds that surround us and experiencing the beautiful Pacific Northwest”

Love the reclaimed wood interior!

With eight stores, it looks like our recreational marijuana industry is starting to take shape. Let’s welcome Dockside to our industry!

Michael Perkins has done it again, as he has many times before: open a place where one can purchase marijuana. He started in California where he opened a handful of medical marijuana dispensaries before moving to Washington State in 2012 to rinse and repeat. Now, this lucky dog-winner of 3 recreational marijuana licenses – currently owns two recreational marijuana stores in North Seattle, including Grass.

Grass is conveniently located close to I-5 so you don’t have to travel too far once exiting the freeway. It resides off of 15th Ave NE, in the midst of strip malls near the Jackson Park golf course. You can’t miss it as large banners in the front and in the back let’s passersby know that this is a marijuana store for ages 21+.

Apache 6 security team is contracted by the shop to greet visitors and check identification to make sure everyone is of age. Once inside, you are welcomed by a staff eager and anxious to assist you with your purchase.

We enjoy walking into recreational marijuana stores for the first time. Each one of them has their own unique personalities and touches. Ganja Goddess, located in the Industrial District, has an old world flavor; Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop, located in between the Central District and Capitol Hill Neighborhoods, has a vintage ‘Reefer Madness’ propaganda-like poster theme going on; Cannabis City, another Industrial District marijuana store has wood floor panels at ‘420’ degrees; and Ocean Greens has a vintage behemoth of a wooden bar as its’ centerpiece. To continue the trend, Grass has a modern touch, accented by wooden floors and walls painted with colors to keep you feeling warm. A large vase stands in the corner with a stick plant decor. A subtle nice touch.

Grass organizes the glass product display cases by quality and price of bud. If you would like to pay a lower price and don’t mind a lower quality of cannabis, there is a section of the store for you. If you want nothing but premium grade marijuana and are willing to pay for it, there is also a section for you. And if you want a price and quality in between those examples, they got that too.

The Operations Manager was very helpful and gave us an in depth analysis of their entire line of products. What stood out to us is that Grass is very selective of what they carry and takes pride in their premium choices. While packaging and branding is not everything, it can at least give a sense of what a company is trying to achieve and the effort they put forth. In short, Grass has an unique and spectacular selection of brand conscious products.

Grass is Michael Perkins first recreational marijuana shop. He just opened Mary’s, located off of Aurora Avenue. Perkins should be adding a 3rd legal retail shop in Snohomish County sometime this month. But don’t expect him to stop there. Perkins hopes to expand his brand of legal retail shops into other states that legalize the plant.

For more information about Grass including location and contact info, check out www.grasswa.com

Ocean Greens Location, Website, Phone Number, and Other Details

Ocean Greens made its’ debut on October 2nd at 4:20pm. 16 days later they held the official grand opening celebration. Sandwiched between Greenwood and Maple Leaf – just North of Green Lake Park – its’ location is also convenient to residents in Ballard, Phinney Ridge, Wallingford, and Freemont.

Grand Opening Celebration*

The official grand opening celebration began on October 18, at 10am in the morning. There was an official cutting of the ribbon, free donuts and coffee, a glass artist blowing weed pipes, and a promise that the pot store would have the least expensive legal pot in the State – at least for the day. Drew, a man visiting from Lower East Side in New York City was the first customer of the day.

*This grand opening celebration was a little different than the grand opening celebrations of Cannabis City or Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop. First of all, Ocean Greens had been open for more than 2 weeks, and secondly, it was a smaller celebration, much more relaxed and intimate.

Who is Oltion Hyseni?

Olton Hyseni is living the American dream. He grew up in Albania when it was a communist country, but moved to Seattle when he won a lottery for a green card. Most recently, he won a lottery which allowed him to obtain a retail post shop license. Talk about having a bit of good luck. You can read more about Olton Hyseni here.

Win the Lottery, Visit Amsterdam

So what was the first thing Oltion Hyseni did when he won the lottery which allowed him to open up Ocean Greens? He bought a ticket and flew to Amsterdam. During his month stay, Hyseni hung out and smoked ‘White Widow’ with the owners of ‘The Bulldog,’ the chain of famous coffeeshops (marijuana cafes). He soaked in the cannabis culture and industry, and brought back with him tons of inspiration.

This inspiration is evident in the interior design of Ocean Greens. It’s cozy, warm, and welcoming. An old wooden bar oozing of character and accented by neon lights, looms from one side of the shop. Stain glass windows and edgy art, lay on the walls. A lone fireplace sits subtly announces its’ existence.

Vintage Wooden Neon Bar

Beautiful stain glass accent with local art

Cannabis painting

Glass pipes

Thinking About the Future

Even though Ocean Greens has only been opened for a short period of time, Oltion Hyseni has invested some thought into the future of his recreational marijuana enterprise. There is space next to the shop where he can open an Amsterdam style coffeeshop if laws or regulations allow this in the future. This would be ideal as there are not many places where people can go to consume marijuana.

Ocean Greens Grand Opening Tomorrow

The North Seattle marijuana shop Ocean Greens has been open for a couple of weeks now, but not officially. They have been participating in what you’d call a ‘soft opening,’ where the hours of daily operations are limited to a small window. Tomorrow, October 17th, they will have their grand opening and join Praxa, as the only recreational marijuana stores serving North Seattle. The pot shop will open at 10am, there will be coffee and doughnuts, and live glass blowers will be on the premises! The Upstart Business Journal has an in depth article about the owner, Oltion Hyseni.

Oh, and according to their Facebook page, Ocean Green’s claims they will have the best prices in the state for their Grand Opening.

Two Books About Marijuana Are Part of ‘Lit Crawl’

If you plan on taking part in Capitol Hill/First Hill’s ‘Lit Crawl‘ on October 23rd – and are a fan of marijuana – you may be interested that there will be two authors and their books about the plant: ‘Weed For the People’ by Bruce Barcott, and ‘Marijuana Nation’ by Robert Roffman. You can find out more about the event, the authors, and the books here.

In case you missed it! Marijuana Review: Alice In Wonderland by CannaSol Farms from Herbal Nation

Just yesterday we posted our weekly marijuana review. In case you missed it, you can check out the review here. Next week, we will have another review by CannaSol Farms.